


four times tony answered peter's calls and the one time peter answered his

by lovelyrdjr



Series: peter and tony [3]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Gen, Hurt Peter Parker, Hurt Tony Stark, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker is a Mess, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Has Issues, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-02
Updated: 2020-07-02
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:34:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25037089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovelyrdjr/pseuds/lovelyrdjr
Summary: Tony decided that he loved the stars when he was 15.There were so many unexplainable things about them. Some nights, when he couldn't sleep, he would sneak up to the roof (his bedroom was on the top floor, and it was easy enough to pull himself up) just to watch the stars. He imagined the billions, maybe trillions, of other hims. Was there a universe where he was a normal kid, where his dad didn't own a company and didn't have all the money he could imagine? Was there a universe where, just maybe, his father was proud of him? Or was there a universe where Tony didn't even exist, where his parents had a different child, or if his parents never even met. There were infinite possibilities, and Tony though of them all.
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: peter and tony [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1571134
Comments: 4
Kudos: 124





	four times tony answered peter's calls and the one time peter answered his

1.

The first time Tony answered one of Peter's calls, he was thankful.

The meeting he was in was terribly boring and he was so grateful for the distraction and excuse to leave. Pepper had forced him to go to the meeting in the first place, even though he begged her for days not to make him go. He knew he was being childish, but everyone knows that he hates going to meetings. The board members are such assholes. Tony knew that using the kid as an excuse to leave was probably not the most mature thing to do, and Pepper is definitely going to get in his ass about it later, but he just can't help it. 

So when he answered the call, he immediately began thanking the kid. He didn't know how to explain to Peter that he had basically just saved his life, but he was damn well going to try. 

The kids laugh when he told him that just made the whole thing even better. Peter didn't laugh near as much as he should, he's been through a lot in his 16 years, so Tony takes pride in being the one to make him laugh.

"You're welcome Mr. Stark. Pepper told me you were in a meeting and I know how much you hate those."

"You're an angel child and I love you."

When Pepper came out of her own meeting half an hour later to find Tony sitting on the hallway floor with his phone to his ear and a big grin on his face, she decided to let it slip this one time.

2.

The second time Tony answered one of Peter's calls, he was scared.

Peter never called him while he was on patrol unless he was seriously hurt, and even then it was Karen that had to force the call through, because for some reason, Peter just did not want others to know when he was hurt. (Not like Tony could complain much, considering he didn't even tell Pepper that he was dying, and Rhodey only found out because he was in the room when he was trying not to die).

So when Tony answered, and didn't immediately hear the rambling that Peter usually bombarded him with, he was worried. He didn't want the kid to end up like him, to feel like he has nobody to rely on when he was hurting. He wanted the kid to know that when he was hurt, Tony really wanted to know because then he could fix it, because he spent his whole life fixing things and that was what he was good at. He was beyond terrified that Peter wasn't the one that called, that Karen had actually pushed the call through because Peter was so badly hurt and could not make the call himself. 

So when he heard the kid start talking, he could not describe in words the amount of relief that he felt. (The nerves weren't totally gone because, let's be honest, Peter is prone to trouble and just because he wasn't dead doesn't mean that he isn't hurt).

And when Tony realized that Peter wasn't hurt, that the real reason he was calling was to excitedly tell him that a little kid had given him a bracelet after he helped her find her mother (who probably felt the same way that Tony was feeling just moments before), he couldn't help but feel relieved.

"You're a demon child and you were put on this earth specifically to worry me, weren't you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, Mr. Stark!"

3.

The third time Tony answered one of Peter's calls, he was happy.

Peter was coming to the tower after school to help out in the lab. Tony would never admit it to anyone (except maybe Pepper, and probably Rhodey too if he asked nice enough) that it was his favorite part of the week. The lab felt empty without the kid there, which was a little hard to get used to considering there was a time when the only people allowed to enter was Pepper and Rhodey, and even then they only stayed for a couple minutes before rushing out. Peter was only person that actually enjoyed being in the lab with him, and Tony was going to hold on to the enjoyment for as long as he could, because Peter is getting older and he knows that the kid is going to lose interest in him at some point. But right now, he was just going to be happy that the kid ever had interest in him.

"Hey, Mr. Stark! I just wanted to let you know that I'm gonna swing to the tower today. May needs me to pick up some milk for her so I'm gonna do that before heading over!"

"Okay, kid. While you're at the store, get some snacks. We can have a movie night."

"Mr. Stark, I love you. You always have the best ideas."

"Stay safe, kid."

4.

The fourth time Tony answered one of Peter's calls, he was frustrated.

The kid had been ignoring him for a week now. He was dodging all of his calls, he didn't go out patrolling because he knew that Tony was going to force a call through, he even skipped lab day! It was a stupid argument, now that he thinks about it. He never should have gotten so angry at the kid for something that he really had no control over. When he found out that Peter hadn't been eating enough, he was angry. Why would he ignore his own needs like that? He never let Peter explain why he wasn't eating enough, he just yelled at him. 

When Peter left, he thought about it, hard. And when May called him, to tell him off because he was being such a dick to Peter when he had no right to be, she was right. Tony wasn't his father, no matter how badly he wished he was. He was just worried and didn't know how to handle it, so he just started yelling. And he told her that. When she explained that while she didn't know that Peter had not been eating enough, that it was her fault. She had lost her second job due to budget cuts and she was not able to afford as much as she used to, and Peter, the angel child, didn't have the heart to tell her that he wasn't getting enough because he thought it would make her feel bad.

And Tony so badly wanted to apologize to Peter. 

"Hey, Mr. Stark."

"Hey, Pete. Listen, I'm sorry. I was worried and didn't know how to handle it, so I yelled at you when I shouldn't have. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Mr. Stark. I'm sorry ignored you."

"It was justified."

"Can I come over? I'll bring pizza and snacks."

"Yeah, kid. We can watch whatever you want. See you soon."

+1

Tony decided that he loved the stars when he was 15.

There were so many unexplainable things about them. Some nights, when he couldn't sleep, he would sneak up to the roof (his bedroom was on the top floor, and it was easy enough to pull himself up) just to watch the stars. He imagined the billions, maybe trillions, of other hims. Was there a universe where he was a normal kid, where his dad didn't own a company and didn't have all the money he could imagine? Was there a universe where, just maybe, his father was proud of him? Or was there a universe where Tony didn't even exist, where his parents had a different child, or if his parents never even met. There were infinite possibilities, and Tony though of them all.

As he grew older, his interest grew. Sometimes, he even wanted to go to space. Maybe, if he tried just hard enough, he could get to one of those other universes where he was happy. He would take Rhodey with him if he could, because he was his best, and only, friend and he wouldn't want to live in any universe without him there with him. It was hard sometimes, to look up at the night sky and imagine a version of him in a completely different life, a life that he wished so badly that he could have, and then return to the life he did had and pretend to be okay with it.

When the aliens came to New York in 2012, he will admit that he was scared. He spent so many years watching the stars, and never once did he think about the possibility of aliens invading to destroy New York. He always imagined them to he nice. He wanted so badly to be part of a different world that he never thought that those worlds could be as bad as this.

Tony decided he hated the stars that day.

Flying a nuke into space, knowing that there's so very little chance that you're going to make it back home, is decidedly not fun. He imagined him going to space under different circumstances, like maybe as an astronaut, where he could spend months in one ship and just look at the world and everything it had to offer, because then maybe he would be happier that he had the chance to grow up on it. Maybe he wouldn't have hated his life so much, because he grew up on something so ugly yet so beautiful. 

When Tony made it home, god he was so happy he made it home, he didn't know what to do. Just hours before, he was about to die, and now that he had a second, maybe third, chance, he didn't know what to do with it. He though about Afghanistan, how Yinsen told him "don't waste your life". When he left that awful cave, he didn't know what Yinsen had meant. How could Tony waste his life when he didn't really have one to begin with? There was one thing that Tony knew he wanted when he left that cave: the stars. And now that the stars didn't seem as great as they once did, that maybe now he even thought of them as terrifying, he didn't know what he wanted.

Nightmares were definitely not on that list.

Waking up at 3 A.M. from a nightmare about something that happened years ago was not what Tony wanted. Tony wanted a sleep all the way through the night, he wanted to feel like he wasn't running on coffee at all times. He didn't want to feel the same way parents do when they bring home a child - up at ungodly hours of the night to comfort something so innocent and small. 

So he called Peter.

He knew that he was probably sleeping, god he wishes that he were sleeping, because if he found out that Peter, the angel child that he loved oh so much, had nightmares as well, then he wouldn't know what to do. 

When Peter answered, with sleep in his voice, Tony was happy. He was happy that the kid was sleeping through the night, that he didn't have the same terrifying problem that Tony had every night. He was happy that the kid, even though he was asleep, still answered Tony's calls. He was happy that he had Peter in his life, because he doesn't think that he would be able to live if Peter wasn't there. He was so happy that he had the chance to love Peter as if he was his own son.

"Are you okay Mr. Stark?"

"Yeah, kid, I am now."

**Author's Note:**

> It's been so long!!


End file.
